Vietnam

My favorite dish in Vietnam, fresh/fried rice paper rolls!

 

 

Here are some healthier uncooked rice paper rolls stuffed with mint, veg and tofu strips.

 

 

We also got to see how rice paper was made, here they are drying them out in the sun, including having a go at flipping these transparent sheets.

 

 

 

PHO!! Noodle soup with rice noodles, mint and fake meat from Loving Hut Hanoi.

http://tnhvietnam.xemzi.com/en/spot/4853/loving-hut-quan-thanh-hanoi

 

We got chatting to a really nice local lady at this loving hut, she explained what the special Tet (New Year) 'cake' was and how to eat it.

 

 

Finishing my bowl of Pho (looking a bit undernourished after a month in China)

 

 More rice paper spring rolls!

 

 

 

 

Tet- Vietnamese New Year, we spend their new years day on Cat Ba Island near Halong Bay and were giving tons of delicious food. 

 

Chuc mung nam moi

(Happy New Year!)

 

 

We bought this savoury 'cake' at Loving hut, where we had our delicous Pho.

A nice local business lady started chatting to us and explained what banh chung was. I still cant promounce it properly. Its a really big tradition in Vietnam, they make these pork filled rice coated parcels and wrap them in Banana leaf before steaming for hours. they last 10 days from being made.

 

We had 3 vegetarians on the table on our little island in Halong Bay, and the one meat eater said our veggie version tasted better. It was a spicy pork style filling wrapped in rice, really filling!

 

So we shared some... 

 

 

 

 

Our favourite lunches, with prison style trays was in Hoi An, a good bicycle ride out of the tourist trap center. the food was insanly cheap, though the restaurant looked very shabby.

 

The bottom corner is 'fish' style fillet with seaweed around the edge and 'chicken drum stick' with tinu lemon grass 'bones'.

 

 

 

In Hue we ate at a hotel we had found from cycling around and looked it up on happy cow.

 Hot tofu dish, spring rolls and Pho.

We also tried the fig dish, so famously reviews, my partner liked it, but I was undecided.

 

http://www.happycow.net/reviews.php?id=29050

 

 

 

Fresh Coconut water on the beach in Hoi An

 

 

Cashew nuts growing on a tree, seems like such a waste of that 'apple' for just that tiny nut at the end.

 

 

Chilli Lemongrass tofu (bad photo, tasty food);

 

 

After a month without soya milk, ah Vietnam I love you!

 

 

 Had a lovely conversation with a shop keep girl in Hanoi about how 'vietnamese people love soya milk and she buys it fresh in huge glass bottles everyday for her family, and its still warm when delivered'

 

I only tried various brands of cartoned milk, but I was happy that I could finally have milky tea!

 

Christmas 2012

Christmas presents!

 The long awaited book; Vegan Eats World

  It is bigger than it looks on Amazon and I'm in the process of bookmarking what to make first, but the Green Thai soup is looking pretty good!

 

Wearing last years scarf and Santa hat christmas presents from Beijing.

 

 

Also here is my christmas day roast dinner with Cheatin's Celebrations roast, bacon wrapped sausages and turkey, sprouts, parsnips, stuffing and creamy cheesey leeks.

Festive treats; Cookies, Yule Log and Santa's

Cooking christmas 2012

Last year I was backpacking and did no cooking at Christmas :(

This year I'm feeling very festive and have set some great challenges on myself, and tasted some great food.

 

 

Strawberry Santa's

Strawberries piped with icing, I made these for the work buffet, they didn't survive the many roundabouts on my route into work, and after a while the strawberries mixed with sugar and made a juicy mess.

Thankfully, my collgeus liked them and I heard someone say

'Who made these strawberry santas? They taste amazing'

 

 

Chocolate sprinkle eyes!

 

 

 

 Gingerbread people and bears

I used the PPK recipe, which i realised is also tucked at the back of Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

I substituted Molasses for Golden Syrup and used Muscavado instead of regular sugar to give that deep flavour.

This cookies were just to my taste, crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside and not too sweet. If you have a sweet toooth its worth icing them up!

 

 

 

 

Little Bears!

 

Black Forrest Chocolate Yule log

I made a gluten free sponge using the Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World Chocolate cupcakes, rolled the sponge, left to cool and then iced with a vanilla butter cream and topped with frozen mixed red fruits (thawed and cooked with arrowroot) then smothered it all in Chocolate icing.

 

China, Christmas 2011, Vegan set menu

Christmas 2011 we were in Beijing, only 3 months into our 10 month backpacking trip, we had a lovely meal at The Veggie Table and got to see the Great Wall of China!

 

 

 

The Vegan Set Menu was 208Yuan, which is about £20, for China that seems a lot, but for England very cheap! It consisted of a drink, pudding and 4 savoury dishes and compared to the rice and greens I had been living off, a real treat. The Veggie Table was run by a nice American lady who I spoke with.

 

Egg Nog (first time to try this) and Ginger tea

 

 

Creamy green beans with crispy onion 

Cabbage and apple salad and minestrone soup

Chocolate cake with walnuts

 

 

 

We went back a few days later we went back for Lentil soup, more ginger tea and hot chocolate

 

 

 

Our favourite meal was their Mushroom burger with really good Vegan Coleslaw!

Baked Cauliflower Mmm

Baked Cauliflower and Spinach Rice
 

Chop the whole Cauliflower head into even size chunks, in a bowl toss the other ingredients in and coat evenly, place on a baking tray in the oven, cook until golden brown and soft.

1 tbsp Garlic infused olive oil
1 tbsp Tamari Soya sauce
1 tsp Toasted sesame oil
Black pepper

 I like it crunchy, so I don't pre-boil it, I have this hot or cold, its so tasty!

Grazing on good food

 

Recently a friend gave me her graze box; two of the items were vegan, so I happily munched them and gave the other two to my partner to eat.

I’ve known about graze a little while, only signed up this month. I was at first worried not a lot would be vegan, but once you sign up you can “BIN” any non-vegan items; So all things with yoghurt, honey and milk powder gone, YAY!

 

 

The first box is free, and you can actually cancel your subscription at any time.

 

My first box was a mix of fruits and nuts, lots of goji berries and a little chocolate very healthy.

My second box had ‘Jaffa cake’, herby bread basket, afternoon tea and crumble and pure vitality. Less healthy but got eaten quickly! I couldn’t believe the herby crouton style bread basket was only 83calories as it felt quite indulgent. The Jaffa cake orange flavoured raisins are so tasty!

 

 

With all their promotions they seem to be growing from strength to strength and are expanding to the USA soon.

Its £3.89 per box and the delivery is free, and the box is designed to fit in your post box. Any friends who join can earn you a £1 off or a charitable donation to farming in Uganda.

Gingery Bok Choy Noodles with Thai Broccoli

 

Taking a leaf out of Appetite for Reduction pg176, I made this delicious noodle stir-fry. The recipe calls for a few lovely fresh Bok Choys, an onion, ginger, garlic and soy sauce.

 

I specially bought some Gluten Free and Vegan King Soda noodles, organic brown rice noodles.

 

 

The noodles came in 3 individually wrapped portions...three is a random number

 

It was definitely a quick weeknight meal, as apposed to a fancy dinner party meal. It was lovely to have a nice oriental flavour, I followed the recipe and i would suggest being heavy handed with Garlic and Ginger, and I also added some of the Vegan Chinese Mushroom sauce too.

 

I made some Thai Green Broccoli to go with it. 

 In a sauce pan heat some Thai Green Curry paste for 5 minutes and adding 1/2 a cup of coconut milk to make this sauce, add some pre-steamed Broccoli and coat.

 

*Tip: I freeze coconut milk into little ice cube trays once I have opened a can. This recipe uses 3 Ice cubes of coconut.

 

I really enjoyed this, but I needed the addition of the vegan oyster sauce, my partner isn't the biggest fan of Bok Choy in the first place and I like my veggies crunchy. The leaves turned into silky spinach-like greens and the stem a nice crunchy mouthful, most people would probably cook the stem a little longer than I did.